By NNN-KUNA,
Baghdad : US soldiers killed the son and nephew of an Iraqi governor during an operation in Tikrit, an official said.
Deputy Governor of Salahiddin, Abdullah Jebara told KUNA US forces broke into the home of the sister of Governor Hamad Al-Kashti and killed the two teenagers Sunday.
He added that the two boys, who died of direct gunfire, did not have any weapons on them.
The name of the owner of the house was similar to the name of a wanted person, he pointed out.
Jebara said US forces had called the governorate, admitted and apologised for the mistake, and stressed that they would investigate the incident.
The bodies of the two boys are now at the US base north of Tikrit and a delegation had headed there to receive them, he noted.
Jebara condemned the incident as an example of use of excessive force by US troops in Iraq.
He stressed that proper procedures will be taken soon, pointing out that such incidents during operations became frequent and that US forces usually kill wanted people, rather than arrest them.
Meanwhile, information advisor of the multinational forces in Iraq Abdellatif Rayan asserted that the two young men who were killed by US soldiers during a raid of a house of a wanted person in the northern town of Beiji were later found to be related to Saladin Governor, Hamed Hamud Al-Kashti.
Rayan told KUNA here that the US forces raided earlier in the day a house in the town of Beiji, some 60 km north of the city of Tikrit, in search of a wanted suspect whose hideout had been spotted by intelligence authorities, adding that the two were killed by the US soldiers in self-defence after their hostile intentions were proven.
Rayan added that the person that has been chased by the US forces was suspected of being a financial officer of Al-Qaeda, pointing out that he was injured during the operation, while another person was arrested who can be described as an effective element of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
According to Rayan, a member of the coalition forces was injured during this operation and was transferred immediately to the medical facility belonging to the multinational force.
Al-Kashti threatened to resign from office unless an impartial and independent investigation is opened into the incident, declaring “the suspension of all his administrative activities in protest against the incident which killed his son, and one of his relatives.”
He expressed his strong indignation at what he described as a “crime”.